Senator Mike Lee Falsely Suggests NAFO Memeposting Collective Is Run By The CIA

Utah Senator Mike Lee has made a series of posts attacking the North Atlantic Fellas Organization in what may be the most-online front of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

NAFO, the North Atlantic Fellas Organization, is a pro-Ukraine collective of memers that helps to fundraise for the Ukrainian cause online and push back against Russian misinformation and propaganda efforts.

Lee, like many other Republicans, is opposed to funding Ukraine's fight against Russia. He has posted frequently about the threat of escalation regarding the ongoing war.

The feud originally began last Wednesday, when Lee posted a poll asking if people thought the United States should continue helping fund Ukraine's defense operations.

When a majority of respondents said yes, Lee accused NAFO of rigging the poll with a troll army, and speculated they must be receiving funding from some other government.

Lee then created another poll, asking his followers who might be funding NAFO.

There is, of course, no credible evidence that George Soros or any part of the American or Ukrainian governments are funding NAFO, despite Lee writing these as options in his poll.

To back up the conspiratorial claims in the poll, Lee reposted an article from the Gray Zone, a fringe far-left outlet famous for supporting Syria's dictator Bashar al-Assad (claiming he never used chemical weapons) and denying China's ongoing genocide of the Uyghur people.

The founder of the Gray Zone also has documented ties to the Russian government and a larger network of pro-Russian backers, including Ben from Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

Posters affiliated with NAFO – many of whom use Cheems as their profile pic – argued that they were just memeing and posting on their own time because of their personal beliefs. One of these posts replying to Lee notably accomplished a ratio of his poll (seen below).

Many NAFO Fellas called out Mike Lee for his perceived support of the January 6th insurrection and compared him to Russian officials that have also sparred with the Fellas since they began in early 2022.

Others questioned his sanity and speculated he himself was paid off by someone.